1. Field of the Invention
The invention in general relates to inspection systems and more particularly to a system which automatically inspects planar objects to determine various defects.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of sheet glass or plastic manufacture, as well as components made therefrom, a need exists for determining the presence, as well as severity, of defects to obtain an indication of overall quality.
Current methodologies typically involve the use of human inspectors to identify and cull out inferior products. These methods are prone to the inconsistencies and subjectivity inherent in human inspection. Furthermore, certain types of defects may not even be discernible to the human eye.
To improve the quality assessment process, some manufactures utilize machine vision technology whereby the assessment is done automatically using digital video cameras for image capture and image processing for defect determination. This process is a significant improvement over the human operator method, but is still not capable of properly or sufficiently enhancing the entire range of defect types.
The present invention provides greater sensitivity to defect detection and is capable of detecting a greater range of defect types.